A rare and early carved sandstone polyheaded sundial

This sundial is probably a seventeenth century or earlier stone polyhedron with an octagonal plan form with faces carved with eleven scaphes, some which have traces of the original gnomons. The ‘north’ faces are uncarved. The stone would have been mounted on a plinth or pillar  probably surmounted by a finial.  Whilst the earliest multiple dials such as this were to be found in Germany and England, the most extraordinary dials, often carved in an indigenous red  sandstone, are to be found in Scotland as with this example. Whilst there is no logical explanation for this, the Scottish mind for mathematics and science  took to the multiple sundial in a way which is found nowhere else  in the history of gnomonics or the art of dialling. Although now sadly eroded, this dial represents an interesting challenge and could be restored to  working order with professional stone conservation and sundial gnomonics supervision. 

Literature; Sundials by Christopher St J.H. Daniel, 1986 

Garden ornament